Ch.163163 – Remnants 1

# 163 – Residual # 1

With the 610P I had, I used 400P to try to draw a talisman.

After five gacha attempts, I drew the talisman with honest probability and escaped from the corridor.

“Farewell, you devil! I won!”

『Congratulations! You have safely returned from the Nightmare Corridor!』

『Beginning settlement for 3 survivors and 1 residual share.』

When I woke up in the morning, the settlement began.

Clink-clink-clink-clink.

With the sound of countless coins falling, text appeared before me like ending credits.

I gained a base of 400P from the shares of three escapees and one residual.

Adding the points from ghost encounters, the total points gained were…

『Total: 550P』

550P was quite a substantial amount of points.

However, there was one phrase that particularly caught my attention: the words “1 residual.”

Residual?

Does that mean someone remained in the corridor?

Who could it be?

“Status Window.”

I opened the Status Window and scrolled through the player list.

Jeongseok and Kwon Sua had no quirks showing.

It seemed they had safely escaped with talismans.

Yang Juhui also had no quirks.

I didn’t have any either, of course.

Instead, Jeong Sojin, who had joined us through random matching yesterday, had developed a quirk.

「《Mystery Enthusiast》: A condition affecting those who have approached too many secrets and mysteries. You become greatly interested in the dark secrets and taboos hidden in the world. Like a moth that has fallen in love with a candle flame.」

It was a quirk I’d never seen before, but I could guess why it had appeared.

So Jeong Sojin, who had escaped from the operating room, had collapsed without obtaining a talisman.

Jeong Sojin’s death and resulting quirk meant she had forgotten everything that happened in the hellish operating room yesterday.

Being possessed by the devil would have become like a dream that never happened.

That might actually be for the best.

My current points, including interest from the Rabbit Piggy Bank, totaled 860P.

As a way to repay her for yesterday, I invested 100P to remove Sojin’s quirk.

「Is everyone okay?」

7 AM.

It was a bit early, but I sent a message to the group chat.

Soon everyone replied as if they had been waiting.

「Jeongseok: Escaped successfully.」

「Bongji: ㅗ」

「Sua: It was so scary ㅠㅠ」

「Dahui: What happened yesterday?」

「Teacher Miri: Dahui and I caught a raccoon in the garden last night ㅋㅋ Want to see a photo?」

Photo-

A raccoon.

So wild raccoons live in Korea too.

I found it quite fascinating, but there was something more important.

There was no reply from Yang Juhui.

Was she not awake yet?

I remembered the words “1 residual.”

Feeling anxious and impatient, I waited about ten minutes, and when there was still no reply, I called her directly.

Bouncy bouncy my heart~

Like clear stream water~♪

Stream stream stream water~

Clear stream water~♪

The same unique ringtone played as always.

Now I realized Kwon Sua’s voice was in the lyrics.

So this was the part Sua sang.

“…She’s not answering.”

Yang Juhui wasn’t picking up.

I got up, quickly got dressed, and decided to go out.

“Mom, I’m going out!”

“Without breakfast?”

“I’ll buy something myself!”

Breakfast was the last thing on my mind.

I was convinced something had happened to Yang Juhui.

I ran frantically toward her house and arrived at the old apartment complex.

It had been quite a while since I’d visited Yang Juhui’s home.

She didn’t really like having people come to her house.

She was the type who would drop by my place unannounced but get angry if I visited hers.

Knock knock knock-

I knocked on Yang Juhui’s door.

Soon I heard movement from inside and a woman’s voice.

—Who is it?

“Elder Kim, it’s Yeongwon. Is Juhui home?”

—Oh my, Yeongwon? Wait a moment. Juhui’s probably still sleeping. Hey! Juhui! Yang Juhui!

I could clearly hear Elder Kim Yeook’s voice through the old metal door.

Five minutes later.

I also heard Elder Kim Yeook cry out in great distress.

—Juhui! Wake up! Juhui!

# # #

Wee-woo wee-woo-

Yang Juhui was loaded into an ambulance that arrived with sirens blaring.

Yang Juhui was transported to the hospital.

Elder Kim asked the doctor coming out of the hospital room.

“Why? Why is this happening? Why won’t she wake up?”

“Well, at the moment, we can’t really…”

Yang Juhui couldn’t wake up.

Like Snow White who ate the poisoned apple.

Like the forest princess pricked by a needle.

“There must be a reason! Why! Why can’t she wake up!”

Elder Kim Yeook’s voice echoed loudly throughout the hospital.

It was a scream filled with anguish.

With Yang Juhui’s sister Yang Dohui missing, and her husband living separately, Elder Kim only had Yang Juhui left.

It was natural for her to despair when Yang Juhui had fallen into an unexplained comatose state.

I actually knew why Yang Juhui couldn’t wake up.

Yang Juhui hadn’t escaped from the corridor last night. Nor had she died—she remained in a state of residual.

This was the first time something like this had happened, so I couldn’t help but be confused.

Soon Jeongseok, Kwon Sua, Bong Jiyeon, and Dahui arrived at the hospital in Teacher Hong Miri’s car.

Jeongseok approached me as I paced the hospital corridor.

“What happened?”

I don’t know either.

I wish someone would tell me what happened.

But I had to stay calm because if I panicked, everyone else would panic too.

“I think Juhui couldn’t escape.”

“What does that even mean? Is it related to the devil from yesterday?”

“I don’t think so. I made a bet with that devil yesterday and won. I even managed to drive it out of the class president’s body. And I got Juhui and the president out of the operating room…”

I briefly explained what I knew.

Everyone was confused and frightened by this unprecedented situation.

“…So it’s possible to remain residual?”

Jeongseok rubbed his forehead with his palm.

He was weak against uncontrolled variables, so the current situation was quite disconcerting for him.

While everyone was too perplexed to speak, a group of people arrived at the hospital.

Each of them carried worn leather Bibles in their hands. This made it clear they were people from a church.

Were they from Yeong-gwang Church, which Yang Juhui attended with her mother?

They entered the hospital room, and Elder Kim Yeook welcomed them warmly.

“This morning, Juhui! She wouldn’t wake up! They say there’s nothing wrong with her! It must be the work of the devil Satan! Where’s the pastor? Where is the pastor?”

“He’s parking right now…”

The atmosphere was suffocating in many ways.

In some respects, the hospital where the comatose Yang Juhui was admitted felt more like hell than yesterday’s hellish operating room where the devil lurked.

Everyone seemed to feel the same way and wanted to leave this corridor, so we decided to step outside for some fresh air.

As we were leaving the hospital, we ran into Pastor Cheon Aesu, the lead pastor of Yeong-gwang Church.

“Well, look who it is. It’s Yeongwon. And these are your friends. Are you all here to visit Juhui?”

“Yes.”

“I see. You should come to church sometime. Why is it so hard to see your face?”

The pastor’s jovial manner, like that of a retired fighter with a good build, lightened the mood a bit.

Pastor Cheon Aesu would now go to Yang Juhui’s room to sing hymns and pray with the church members.

I hope it works.

# # #

“This is the first time something like this has happened. Is Juhui’s body empty now? Her soul is in the corridor?”

Jeongseok seemed to have finally reached a conclusion.

I nodded in agreement with his opinion.

“I think so. Since it said she’s residual. I didn’t know this was possible. What could have happened after they escaped from the operating room yesterday?”

Something must have happened after Yang Juhui and Jeong Sojin escaped from the operating room.

Maybe Jeong Sojin would know what happened?

So, just in case, we decided to contact Jeong Sojin.

“Hey, Sojin. It’s me. I called because we have a family gathering coming up soon. Um…”

Jeongseok made the call.

He seemed to be trying to fish for information from Jeong Sojin, but he wasn’t making much progress.

Feeling this wasn’t working, I reached out my hand toward Jeongseok’s phone.

“Let me talk to her.”

“Oh, wait. My friend wants to talk to you. I’ll put Yeongwon on.”

Swish-

“Hello? Sojin, it’s me.”

—Oh, Yeongwon. What’s up? So early in the morning.

I could tell just from her voice.

Jeong Sojin indeed didn’t remember anything about last night.

She must have died in the Nightmare Corridor.

It made sense.

During yesterday’s operating room incident, there were only two talismans available from the corridor.

One from the second floor and one from the entrance to the third floor.

Jeongseok and Kwon Sua escaped with those two.

For Yang Juhui and Jeong Sojin, only death awaited them. If Jeong Sojin died, then Yang Juhui should have also died and emerged from the corridor with a quirk.

But that didn’t happen.

Something must have occurred.

The two who escaped from the operating room must have experienced an “incident” we hadn’t anticipated.

—What’s wrong? Did something happen?

“Um…”

I wondered if I should tell Jeong Sojin the truth.

As I hesitated, Jeong Sojin spoke.

—Oh, I need to hang up now. If you need my help, feel free to contact me anytime!

Click-

The call ended.

We had very little information, and Yang Juhui was residual in the Nightmare Corridor…

I thought that those who had wandered the corridor might know about this situation.

I turned to Teacher Hong Miri and said,

“Teacher! Let’s go to the mansion! Everyone get in the car!”

There were two guests at the mansion now.

Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon.

Those two might know something about the residual state.

“Will those rude girls cooperate with us?”

Bong Jiyeon snorted.

Jiyeon had a point, but I had seen the potential of people in the hellish operating room last night.

If you don’t give up, people can change.

If we showed trust in Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon, we could surely get their cooperation.

And so we arrived at the mansion.

Bzzzzzzzz-

Perhaps because it was the height of summer, the garden was filled with the loud sound of cicadas.

And there was some kind of doghouse I hadn’t seen before.

“Yeongwon, that’s the raccoon the older girls and I caught last night.”

Dahui chuckled.

Now I noticed a leashed raccoon curled up sleeping inside the doghouse.

Is it okay to keep a raccoon in the garden? Well, that didn’t matter right now.

I headed to the room where Lim Huiyeon and Gong Yerin were staying.

Knock knock- When I knocked on the door, I heard a voice from inside.

—Nobody’s here. Don’t open the door.

“I’m coming in.”

—You crazy! I’m changing clothes!